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I have a clean unmodified switch on firmware 8.0.0 connected to my Nintendo account for online use. This switch has never been hacked and I prefer to keep it that way since it is used for online play with legitimate eshop purchased games.

I also have another switch that is running SX OS 2.6.2 on firmware 7.0.1. This switch is not connected to any account and I prefer it to stay that way.

I want to transfer my Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey save files from the clean switch to the hacked switch.

How can I accomplish this safely so that my clean switch does not get flagged or banned? Can it be done without hacking the clean switch?

You know, before firmware 8.0, the only way would have been with transferring the User profile from one Switch to another but they added a way to transfer save data without going online. Be warned that it will wipe the save data from the source console but since your source console is hacked, you can just back up the save data with homebrew. Quoted from their website:

A feature to Transfer Your Save Data is now available, allowing you to transfer your save data for individual games between your Nintendo Switch systems

Go to System Settings > Data Management > Transfer Your Save Data

Save data will not remain on your source system after the transfer process completes

You know, before firmware 8.0, the only way would have been with transferring the User profile from one Switch to another but they added a way to transfer save data without going online. Be warned that it will wipe the save data from the source console but since your source console is hacked, you can just back up the save data with homebrew. Quoted from their website:

The source console with the save data is on the clean unhacked switch, not the hacked switch. I want to transfer save files from the clean unhacked switch to the hacked switch.

From what I understand, transferring save files from one switch to another switch locally requires both switches to be on 8.0.0 and both switches must have the same Nintendo account linked.

The hacked switch doesn’t have any account linked to it, and if possible, I prefer it to stay that way.

Click to expand...

So it seemed weird that you mention that transferring the save data requires the same same account on both consoles since the patch notes make no mention of this but another article explains that the save transfer is a watered down version of the User profile transfer feature. So since this is basically the only way to transfer save files from a hacked Switch to an unhacked Switch, ur SoL. I also see absolutely no reason to not have a linked account on the hacked console. You're doing yourself a disservice. Certain content requires a linked Nintendo Account to run such as the NES app, games like Pianista or co-op with Stardew Valley. And if its a ban you're worried about, almost, if not no one, nobody has reported a ban for having the same account on a hacked and unhacked console. So unless you want to restart your save data from scratch, you better link a Nintendo Account pronto.

I’m not sure if you misunderstood, but the saves I want to transfer are located on the unhacked switch. They need to be moved to the hacked switch.

Also firmware 8.0.0 is required on both switches to use the save transfer feature. The unhacked switch is on firmware 8.0.0. The hacked one is running cfw (SX OS) and is on firmware 7.0.1.

Until there is a stable SX OS update that fully supports 8.0.0, I can’t use the transfer feature. However once an update arrives, there may be hope.

I was under the impression that both switches must be linked to the same account/profile, thus requiring the hacked switch to go online, which I do not want to do if I don’t have to.

The article you referenced even states:

“Before proceeding, you’ll need to make sure that you’re signed into the exact same account on your other Switch; otherwise, this won’t work.”

I do not need the NES app and have not played any titles that require an account linked, though I know they exist as you have mentioned, so I am not worried about that. The main issue is getting the saves onto the hacked switch safely.

I’m not sure if you misunderstood, but the saves I want to transfer are located on the unhacked switch. It’s needs to be moved to the unhacked switch.

Also firmware 8.0.0 is required on both switches to use the save transfer feature. The unhacked switch is on firmware 8.0.0. The hacked one is running cfw (SX OS) and is on firmware 7.0.1. Until there is a stable SX OS update that fully supports 8.0.0, I can’t use the transfer feature. However once an update arrives, there may be hope. But again, I was u see the impression that both switches must be linked to the same account thus requiring the hacked switch to go online, which I do not want to do if I don’t have to.

I do not need the NES app and have not played any titles that require an account linked, though I know they exist as you have mentioned, so I am not worried about that. The main issue is getting the saves onto the hacked switch safely.

Click to expand...

Order doesn't really matter in this instance since this is a built-in feature of the console. CFW doesn't affect what the console can normally do including transferring save data so regardless if its from a hacked to an unhacked or unhacked to a hacked, it will work. Now this is under the assumption that your hacked one isn't banned as the article I linked earlier explains both requires the same account on both systems but I will assume its not banned unless told otherwise.

I can see why you would be hesitant at using the save transfer feature with your hacked console since SX OS does not currently support firmware 8.0. But since Atmosphere does and the setup is basically the same, you can just use Atmosphere until SX OS releases a build that supports firmware 8.0.

The real issue is I don't understand what could be safer than using the Switch's natively supported save transfer tool. The only other possible thing I could think of is uploading the save to Nintendo's Cloud Service which would still require you to have the same Nintendo Account on both systems. Any other method would involve hacking to some degree which would no longer be safe. Its either do the Save Transfer System or bust.

Yes, it can be done as long as your clean Switch is also unpatched and can use the RCM exploit. It is quite involved, though. Here's what I did to transfer my BoTW save from my clean, NSO-subbed Switch to my CFW'd Switch and Wii U - I believe it is the safest way, as the source (clean) console only ever needs to make a NAND backup in Hekate and run BisKeyDump. Horizon never gets involved on the clean Switch, so it should be undetectable and also firmware-independent (e.g. should work on 8.0.0)

Download HACDiskMount from https://switchtools.sshnuke.net/ and mount the backup you just made (it's the large, nearly 30GB file called "rawnand.bin"). This will let you explore the files within. You're looking for the directory "USER". Double-click it, and in the ensuing popup, mount it as a virtual drive.

You'll need to provide the keys from BisKeyDump in order to decrypt your NAND backup. It tells you which keys it wants.

Before mounting USER as a virtual drive for the first time, you'll need to install the driver. Just click install, it's right in the window.

Once you've mounted the backup as a drive, it'll show up in File Explorer. Navigate to "save". You'll find your save files as incomprehensible archives. For now, copy all to clipboard (ctrl-A).

Once you've unzipped that file, there's a folder inside called "save". Paste all your save files from step 6 into this folder. Then back out and use "run.bat".

You'll find the extracted save files in the "out" folder. Here's the hard part: they're still not labeled conveniently, and you'll have to basically figure out which files are which. BoTW is pretty obvious, but otherwise I haven't found a good way to figure them out consistently.

Anyways, once you find the proper files, you can simply import them to your hacked Switch using a save manager like Checkpoint.

tl;dr it's a long process, but you can backup your clean Switch's NAND, extract the saves from the backup, and transfer them to your hacked console.

Is the reverse at all possible?
So I mean from banned hacked switch to clean ipatched Switch?

Keeping in mind that;
- Banned hacked Switch
- Of course is banned
- Has the same linked Nintendo Account as the clean ipatched one

Because I wonder if the banned hacked Switch needs to be able to actually login (pass dauth I guess) or if that it is JUST local stuff like how it works with local game sharing (because that does work)

Yes, it can be done as long as your clean Switch is also unpatched and can use the RCM exploit. It is quite involved, though. Here's what I did to transfer my BoTW save from my clean, NSO-subbed Switch to my CFW'd Switch and Wii U - I believe it is the safest way, as the source (clean) console only ever needs to make a NAND backup in Hekate and run BisKeyDump. Horizon never gets involved on the clean Switch, so it should be undetectable and also firmware-independent (e.g. should work on 8.0.0)

Download HACDiskMount from https://switchtools.sshnuke.net/ and mount the backup you just made (it's the large, nearly 30GB file called "rawnand.bin"). This will let you explore the files within. You're looking for the directory "USER". Double-click it, and in the ensuing popup, mount it as a virtual drive.

You'll need to provide the keys from BisKeyDump in order to decrypt your NAND backup. It tells you which keys it wants.

Before mounting USER as a virtual drive for the first time, you'll need to install the driver. Just click install, it's right in the window.

Once you've mounted the backup as a drive, it'll show up in File Explorer. Navigate to "save". You'll find your save files as incomprehensible archives. For now, copy all to clipboard (ctrl-A).

Once you've unzipped that file, there's a folder inside called "save". Paste all your save files from step 6 into this folder. Then back out and use "run.bat".

You'll find the extracted save files in the "out" folder. Here's the hard part: they're still not labeled conveniently, and you'll have to basically figure out which files are which. BoTW is pretty obvious, but otherwise I haven't found a good way to figure them out consistently.

Anyways, once you find the proper files, you can simply import them to your hacked Switch using a save manager like Checkpoint.

tl;dr it's a long process, but you can backup your clean Switch's NAND, extract the saves from the backup, and transfer them to your hacked console.

Anyway went to 8.0 on the banned Switch.
Sadly it is still behind a dauth check (online check) when it comes down to the individual save transfer.
If only we could stub that so it would pass on that check ... then it should work.

Is there a safe way to transfer a save file from hacked Switch to vanilla Switch?
They don't have the same Nintendo account, I don't know if that could be an issue or if there's a workaround.

Click to expand...

Safe is relative hard term co comply to.

IF you can acces both of them through rcm then checkpoint would be your go to option. Keep both Switches offline and just copy the Checkpoint saves from microsd1 to microsd2 and then restore the backups.

Userwise it should be just fine. (except for games which really take that into account ... most do not do that as far as I know, splatoon2 or other heavily online focuses games might do so)

BUT DO NOT save edit anything and use that on your vanilla switch.
There are people who did this for instance with splatoon2 and well ... nintendo does not like that.

But quite honestly we do not know all the specifics of Nintendo's telemetry in regards to what they can and can not see. Be safe, think before you act and in doubt just ask here for experiences on specific saves if you have any doubts.

IF you can acces both of them through rcm then checkpoint would be your go to option. Keep both Switches offline and just copy the Checkpoint saves from microsd1 to microsd2 and then restore the backups.

Userwise it should be just fine. (except for games which really take that into account ... most do not do that as far as I know, splatoon2 or other heavily online focuses games might do so)

BUT DO NOT save edit anything and use that on your vanilla switch.
There are people who did this for instance with splatoon2 and well ... nintendo does not like that.

But quite honestly we do not know all the specifics of Nintendo's telemetry in regards to what they can and can not see. Be safe, think before you act and in doubt just ask here for experiences on specific saves if you have any doubts.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer.
Well I know everything homebrew-related is risky in terms of banning

Forgive my ignorance, but how can I access Checkpoint in vanilla switch?
This is the whole plan:
-I dumped my BOTW Save from Wii U (version 1.5)
-Using the tool in PC, I converted it to Switch format.
-Brand new BOTW on Switch, but auto-updated to 1.6 (VR stuff)
-Planning on injecting the save into my vanilla Switch.
For this, there are 2 inconvenients:
*From what I've read, both BOTW versions must match but Wii U doesn't have 1.6
*I don't know if there's a way to use Checkpoint on vanilla switch without CFW.
Intended workaround:
-Using my friend's hacked Switch, injecting my save on his console (which has 1.5 too, so it's good), then using Save Transfer into mine.
The two possible problems with this method are:
*We don't want nor his switch nor mine to be banned, as the process requires internet connection
*We obviously have different Nintendo accounts and the process requires them to have the same.

Could you please shed some light into this?
Thanks for the help in advance

Ah the vanilla one is an ipatched switch then? If that is the case ... well you are in the same boat as me.
My saves can't be transferred over, even thought the account linked is the same on both Switches.
(Bans almost never where account bans ... they are console/cert bans)

Ideal scenario

Only workaround I can think of could be using Nintendo Switch which is not banned, can acces RCM and has the same account linked to it. If you can keep it offline and import the saves on it using checkpoint then you could do that entire rcm / homebrew process without any online connectivity.

At that point I ASSUME that would be ok in the above scenario.
BUT in all honesty it is still a gamble of sorts ... we dont know if Nintendo can pickup an RCM boot / action or something. That is what I meant with ... well safe ... we never know for sure.

That would be the ideal scenario.

Other option

Seeing as both Switches are not banned; official ways would be best ofcourse BUT if the linked accounts are different the official Nintendo ways will not let you transfer your save to another user / account.

If that is not possible ... well then Checkpoint really is the only option BUT you would need to be able to do that on the vanilla one aswell (for restoring the saves). (The same applies for do as much as possible without any online connectivity)

But also then the same applies to ... we can not guarantee if that is fully safe.

You could look into the new Incognito homebrew ... but I have not looked into that myself so I cant vouch if that makes life easier or not.

Save convertors

As for save converts for BOTW good question really, never looked into that.
I don't know if versions of the game need to be equal for that. Perhaps others could chime in on that.

Hope above helps but it all depends ... I wish save transferring was bit more easy the it was currently.

So it seemed weird that you mention that transferring the save data requires the same same account on both consoles since the patch notes make no mention of this but another article explains that the save transfer is a watered down version of the User profile transfer feature. So since this is basically the only way to transfer save files from a hacked Switch to an unhacked Switch, ur SoL. I also see absolutely no reason to not have a linked account on the hacked console. You're doing yourself a disservice. Certain content requires a linked Nintendo Account to run such as the NES app, games like Pianista or co-op with Stardew Valley. And if its a ban you're worried about, almost, if not no one, nobody has reported a ban for having the same account on a hacked and unhacked console. So unless you want to restart your save data from scratch, you better link a Nintendo Account pronto.

Click to expand...

I went ahead and linked the hacked switch with the same account from the unhacked switch and transferred my saves from my unhacked switch to the hacked switch using the transfer saves tool. Process completed successfully and my unhacked switch was never tainted with.

Only thing now is the hacked switch has my main account linked to it with no way to remove it. But that shouldn’t matter though, right? Actually, it is beneficial as a linked account is required to launch certain titles.

I went ahead and linked the hacked switch with the same account from the unhacked switch and transferred my saves from my unhacked switch to the hacked switch using the transfer saves tool. Process completed successfully and my unhacked switch was never tainted with.

Only thing now is the hacked switch has my main account linked to it with no way to remove it. But that shouldn’t matter though, right? Actually, it is beneficial as a linked account is required to launch certain titles.

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